Herbert James Draper (1864-1920)

Herbert James Draper (1864-1920)
Reveil
Signed Herbert Draper (lower left)
Oil on canvas, 1918
204.2 x 107cm; 80½ x 42¼in

Provenance:
Property of the artist;
And by family descent

Literature:
The Connoisseur, 1918, vol.LI, p.115 ('marked by grace and refinement);
Simon Toll, Herbert Draper 1863-1920: A Life Study (Antique Collector's Club, 2003), pp.48, 163-164, 197, no. HJD180, colour plate 52

Exhibited:
Royal Academy, 1918, no.304

This was Herbert Draper's last major mythological work. Encompassing some of Draper's favourite themes, it shows nymph-like figures waking with the dawn autumn light. Simon Toll described it as a 'painting of sun-worship in which the nymphs owe their conscious existence to Apollo and Aurora'. This theme was extremely popular in the early part of the twentieth century, and was one in which Draper excelled. The two figures were based on the models Ruth Torr and Hilda Edgell, both of whom Draper had painted before.